10. Palantír: Smoke

Aragorn took a deep breath then, and carefully guided his thoughts away from Rings of Power, to something simple and innocent…

-oOo-

Sometime after his coronation, he was smoking his pipe, looking from a window, when he suddenly heard voices, unmistakably belonging to Merry and Pippin. He wanted to call to his friends, but then he got another idea. He smiled and hid behind a curtain.

"Wait, Pip! Do you feel it?" Merry stopped right under the window.

"Rain is in the air, I think. The air is unusually humid for this city…"

"Not that. Sniff!"

Indeed, in a moment the sound of sniffing could be heard.

"Pipeweed!" Pippin exclaimed. "I'm running low on my supply from Orthanc… It is really hard to get it in Gondor. Denethor didn't smoke."

Merry grinned. "We won't go until we get some!"

In that moment, something fell to his feet. He almost jumped in surprise, but then bent down and examined it. It was a satchel, and… "It's full of pipeweed!" he exclaimed, and looked up. He didn't see anyone in the open window, only the curtain moved slightly…

Pippin's smile reached from ear to ear. "Let's find Frodo and Sam! And raid the kitchen! This needs to be celebrated properly!"

And the party got started…